When to generate hedges in peer-tutoring interactions

This paper explores the application of machine learning techniques to predict where hedging occurs in peer-tutoring interactions. The study uses a naturalistic face-to-face dataset annotated for natural language turns, conversational strategies, tutoring strategies, and nonverbal behaviours. These elements are processed into a vector representation of the previous turns, which serves as input to several machine learning models. Results show that embedding layers, that capture the semantic information of the previous turns, significantly improves the model's performance. Additionally, the study provides insights into the importance of various features, such as interpersonal rapport and nonverbal behaviours, in predicting hedges by using Shapley values for feature explanation. We discover that the eye gaze of both the tutor and the tutee has a significant impact on hedge prediction. We further validate this observation through a follow-up ablation study.Comment: In Proceedings of the 16th Annual Conference ub Discourse and Dialogue (SIGDIAL). Sept 11-15, Prague Czechi

Supporting undergraduate students’ acquisition of academic argumentation strategies through computer conferencing

Executive Summary Background This research grows out of work on the importance of argumentation in developingstudents’ critical abilities. It focuses attention on how students argue in computer mediated conferences as opposed to traditionalwritten assignments, investigating the way in which argumentation is realised within the relatively new context of computer conferencing which allows extended written discussions to take place overa period of weeks. Such text-based asynchronous conferencing is typically characterised by features of both spoken and written modes. Aims The main aims of the project were: • to investigate the argumentation strategies used in asynchronous text-based computer conferences; • to compare the argumentation strategies developed through conferencing with those used in the writing of academic assignments; • to examine the strategies used by tutors to encourage and facilitate argumentation in text-based computer conferences. Methods Data was collected over two years for the distance undergraduate course ‘Perspectives on Complementary and Alternative Medicine’ at the Open University.Qualitative data was obtained through interviews with the course chair, tutors and students, and through a student questionnaire. Assignments and computer-mediated tutorials were collected for textual analysis, although the timing of the assignments meant that analysis has only just begun on the essay data. To analyse the argumentation in the computer conferences and assignments a method of categorising, coding and tracking argumentative discourse was developed building on earlier work by the authors. In addition, computational searches were carried out to compare linguistic features across conference and assignment data. Results In tutorial conferences, student discussion tended to take the form of collaborative co-construction of an argument through exchanging information and experience to substantiate a position. However, students were also prepared to challenge other viewpoints. In both cases, they frequently drew on personal and professional experience to support argument claims. The use of these strategies suggests that text-based conferencing lends itself to the collective combining of diverse sources of information, experiences and ideas. Conference discussions were often personalised with fewer explicit logical links marking argument structure. They were also marked by complexity of argument strands, many of which reached no conclusion. Preliminary analysis of argumentation in assignments suggests that this did not, however, adversely affect students’ ability to create a more traditional, linear argument in their essays. Further analysis will be undertaken to compare argumentation strategies across the two sets of data. Tutors expressed concern about levels of participation in the tutorial conferences, which varied quite considerably. They also felt uncertain about their own knowledge of appropriate pedagogic strategies which would encourage students to participate in a collaborative yet critical way, and tended to rely on strategies from face-to-face teaching. Analysis of the conference discussion showed that tutors made fewer claims than students and were also less likely to provide information in support of their claims. There was, therefore, little modelling by tutors of the basic type of argumentation that would be expected in formal written assignments.Despite these concerns, student responses indicated that having a tutor and a group of peers to interact with, or just to observe, was valued as a supportive feature of this form of distance learning. No clear picture arose of how to make conferencing more interactive for more students, and this reinforces the sense gained from the tutor interviews of the difficulty of proposing a model of tutoring in computer conferences that will necessarily engage all students or raise the level of discussion and debate. Conclusions Our study suggests that text-based conferencing has an important role to play in developing students’ argumentation strategies and understanding of academic discourse and conventions. In view of its hybrid nature, somewhere between spontaneous speech and formal academic writing, course designers and tutors should aim to take advantage of both aspects – on the one hand, the informal dialogic exchange of opinions and co-construction of knowledge, and on the other,the opportunity for consolidation, reflection and re-positioning. Our findings reinforce the view that students’ willingness to exchange ideas freely and openly is partly a consequence of how personally engaged, at ease and confident students feel with one another and their tutor. In particular, it seems that there is a role for the interpersonal and, to some extent, the chat and the frivolity, which in some other studies discussed in the literature review have been regarded as negative influences. Recommendations To facilitate students’ development of argumentation and learning more generally,tutors need greater awareness of the ways in which academic argumentation operates in computer conferencing as compared to written assignments. Since pedagogic strategies developed in other contexts may not transfer well to computer conferencing, there is a need for targeted professional development, focussing in particular on: • Choosing topics for discussion and designing effective task prompts; • Supporting weaker students; • Encouraging challenging of ideas; • Finding the right tone to facilitate peer discussions. Some specific suggestions are made within the report, but our recommendations at this stage remain tentative as we still have to complete the analysis of the assignment data and draw conclusions about the impact of the computer conferencing on the quality of written argumentation within this more formal context

Describing the Experiences of Peer Tutors: A Phenomenological Study of Undergraduate Students at Federal Service Academies

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of undergraduate students who served as peer tutors (PT) at federal service academies. The following research question provided the framework for this study: How do undergraduate students describe their peer tutoring experiences in federal service academies? Further, I used subquestions in order for participants to fully describe the phenomenon. These included: What were participants’ expectations for being a PT prior to the start of this experience? In what ways were participant expectations met or not met during the peer tutoring experience? What expected and unexpected outcomes were realized by participants during this experience? How do participants describe their short-lived and enduring influences of their peer tutoring experience? Transition theory served as the theoretical framework as it postulates how one transitions during a change in one’s assumptive world. I collected data by seeking voluntary participation through purposeful sampling procedures including both criterion and intensity types. Identified participants recorded information pertinent to their experience through the use of journaling. Participants underwent individual interviews and participated in a focus group in order to describe their experiences. Data were analyzed using the transcendental phenomenological reduction process. Overall, participants described their need to help others, in order to do so, participants described steps they took to ensure they were successful and in doing so, they described the feeling that this role would continue beyond their time at their respective academies. Limitations, implications, and suggestions for further research are also addressed

Describing the Experiences of Peer Tutors: A Phenomenological Study of Undergraduate Students at Federal Service Academies

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of undergraduate students who served as peer tutors (PT) at federal service academies. The following research question provided the framework for this study: How do undergraduate students describe their peer tutoring experiences in federal service academies? Further, I used subquestions in order for participants to fully describe the phenomenon. These included: What were participants’ expectations for being a PT prior to the start of this experience? In what ways were participant expectations met or not met during the peer tutoring experience? What expected and unexpected outcomes were realized by participants during this experience? How do participants describe their short-lived and enduring influences of their peer tutoring experience? Transition theory served as the theoretical framework as it postulates how one transitions during a change in one’s assumptive world. I collected data by seeking voluntary participation through purposeful sampling procedures including both criterion and intensity types. Identified participants recorded information pertinent to their experience through the use of journaling. Participants underwent individual interviews and participated in a focus group in order to describe their experiences. Data were analyzed using the transcendental phenomenological reduction process. Overall, participants described their need to help others, in order to do so, participants described steps they took to ensure they were successful and in doing so, they described the feeling that this role would continue beyond their time at their respective academies. Limitations, implications, and suggestions for further research are also addressed

Suggestions In Writing Center Tutorials

The purpose of this study was to investigate the types of suggestions made by a non-native speaker (NNS) of American English during writing center tutorials, and students’ perception of the suggestions made by the tutor. Four tutorials, two with native English speakers (NS) and two with NNS, were audio recorded and transcribed for instances of suggestions. Suggestions were analyzed according to several categories: 1) hedging and directness, 2) syntactic form, and 3) writing concern addressed. Stimulated recall interviews were conducted to determine the perception of the students. Findings of the study revealed that the NNS received more unhedged and direct suggestions. The interviews showed that students occasionally preferred direct suggestions, especially when addressing lower-order concerns such as grammar and formatting

Exploring the communicative competence of Chinese graduate students at Memorial University

A considerable number of Chinese international students enter Canada to pursue higher education every year. However, their less than adequate education in communicative competence domestically causes challenges in intercultural communication even for those students who study abroad by pursuing their Master's or doctoral degree. A great number of studies about Chinese students and their experiences in English speaking countries have been done in recent years. However, little research has provided a holistic picture of what Chinese students think about their own communicative competence, how they improve it consciously as well as what they think of the social and academic support offered by their universities. Therefore, this phenomenological ethnographic qualitative research project intends to fill this research gap. The results show that participants in this study perceived more challenges in terms of pragmatic competence and fluency. The strategies they used and the support provided by Memorial University and the province for improving their communicative competence were described. Pedagogical implications for ESL teachers and further support that should be provided by MUN are also addressed

Understanding Peer Writing Tutors' Sense of Self and Sense of Job for Improved Tutor Training A Critical Discourse Analysis

This study aims to uncover reasons for disconnects between training and job practices in a peer tutoring writing center by investigating peer tutors understanding of themselves in the role of peer tutor. This project—deemed a program evaluation—began with tutorial observations among peer tutors in an undergraduate writing center and an accompanying observational survey; the writing center staff then participated in focus group meetings to discuss the results of the observation survey. Using critical discourse analysis approaches and theories, namely Gee’s (2014) theory of Conversations and Harré and Van Langenhove’s (1999) theory of positioning, the author analyzed transcripts of those focus group conversations. Noteworthy findings include patterns of self-positioning that complicate the already tenuous dynamic of both student and tutor; patterns of positioning of faculty as simultaneously powerful, dangerous, and ultimate authorities in any given tutorial; and regular references to and use of Conversation stances to explain and justify positioning. Based on this study, tutor training in this writing center will acknowledge and honor nuances, conflicts, and pressures experienced by peer tutors and approach critical tutoring practices with attention to the complex identities they embody